Big Mouth Media Penalty?

There seems to be a little chatter in the community about what Bigmouthmedia have done to incur the wrath of the Mighty Google as searching for their domain in Google isn't returning their homepage. This could be anything thing from a simple technical issue or a full blown homepage ban in Google.

Either way it isn't good for business, so lets look at a few things. First off the #1 placement is a 301 redirect which kind of reminds me of the old 301 Hijacking but IMO bigmouthmedia.com is too strong a web property to be hijacked in this way, unless the site was compromised? Maybe a hack but without any Google cache it's a tough one to see what G-maps.com had to take over the cache. But then you look deeper and G-maps.com and the co.uk are Big Mouth owned and are being 301’d in.

Maybe there is an issue with the other sites on the same server 301’ing into BMM which might have hurt them

Only time will tell but it seems strange them not being at the top of Google for “search engine optimisation” as they have pretty much dominated that position.

David Naylor

David Naylor, more commonly known as DaveN, started working in the SEO industry in it's infancy, starting with three major corporations releasing their database driven data, creating internal link structures and improving usability.

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24 Comments

Manley - http://twitter.com/LordManley

It would be daft to risk another removal from the index following their infamous ban in 2006:

The reputational fall out following their denial and Matt Cutts’ subsequent confirmation, at the time was massive, it does not seem feasible that BMM would make a rash mistake like this again.

Surely it must just be a glitch?

Claire - http://b3ta.com

Well if you search for bigmouthmedia then their homepage does come up so I’m guessing a technical glitch.

kay

G-maps was the name for Global media before it merged with BMM a few years back. It’s no big secret, not as if they have tried to hide any of that. And 301 redirecting domains after mergers is quite legitimate and a pretty fundamental excercise. God forbid it was down to that, Google would have to ban pretty much every large corporate with a ranking website.

Homepages drop out of the SERPs all the time without cause or reason other than a ‘blip’, nothing whatsoever to anything naughty at play and more often than not there is nothing you can do but sit and wait. It just happens to be more noticeable when it happens to a high profile site and when there are people like you waiting in the wings ready to pounce and broadcast negative assumptions. Actually, it’s these types of posts that propogate the fear the smaller businesses have of SEO providers assume their own people did something bad to their site because some pages drop from the index. Queue lots of time wasting and undoing of costly work!

I’m no BMM fan but throwing stones at other companies in the industry has become lame and boring. ANY seo can pick another provider apart if they really wanted to and when they really don’t have a clue about the facts involved. Instead of wasting time delving into what they ‘might ‘ have done wouldnt it be better use of ones time to get on with optimising your clients sites?

Purely my own opinion of course 😉

SearchGeeks

Are any of the Bigmouth Guys at SMX next week? maybe they could have an answer to the questions?

Im attending the second day, look forward to meeting some of you guys.

Amelia Vargo

Kay- it’s interesting from the point of view – ‘if they can get removed then anyone can’ and it is good to try and work out what has caused this.

And I don’t think anyone was necessarily saying that BMM have done anything wrong, just speculating.

M Bison

Well said, Kay! Bravo.

David Eaves - http://www.seoco.co.uk

Dude you are #1 for BigMouthMedia what the hell is going on? They must have done something really bad.

In all fairness, I think that this sort of sudden noise around the brand will fade away fairly sharply. After the Ban in 2006 BMM clearly will have learned a few lessons and I do not believe that this suggested penalty is anything more than a small hiccough in their rankings.

I cannot believe that they would be doing anything to encourage a penalty and I know that I would not like this sort of attention at any time.

Jingo

“After the Ban in 2006 BMM clearly will have learned a few lessons”

They don’t rank top for “bigmouth media”, “bigmouthmedia”, etc, much less the terms like “SEO” they were riding high on. I think it’s safe to say they haven’t learned a thing.

Just goes to show, big does not always equal quality, particularly in the field of SEO.

James - http://www.dolphinpromotions.co.uk

@Jingo I think what people are trying to say is that it is more likely an innocent screw up on BMMs part that has caused the homepage to be de-indexed rather than BMM doing naughty things and getting a penalty.

Assuming it is not a penalty then I am sure when they fix the issues BMM will get most of their rankings back.

I am going to assume that this was a glitch rather than a penalty, but with their track record they need to be careful.

Chis

I really can’t understand Kays or M Bisons view on this subject. Dave runs a SEO blog, whey the hell shouldn’t he comment on this issue. Unless you are a client of his and feel he could be working harder then it’s not your place to say how he should and shouldn’t waste his time.

SEO Agency - http://www.bdrlondon.com

Looks like they are indeed back on top now but the damage has been done. As Dan rightly shows they are currently receiving a lot of bad press on their own brand term.

kay

@chis – It’s fine if you dont understand. But looking at it from your perspective, if its not my place to add an opinion to a blog post then its not your place to add an opinion of mine or anyone elses comment. Nor is it Dave Naylors place to post ‘speculation’ on another SEO provider possibly doing naughty things. Its a good thing we don’t all sign up to the ‘Internet according to Chis’.

Now get on with your work instead of hanging round blogs sucking up 😛

GALLERY SALES - http://www.gallerysales.co.uk

They were banned in 2006 and would have learned their lesson,more of a glich as previously stated than a deliberate action.

M Bison

Hi Chris,

Please could you educate us mere mortals further on blog etiquette? Perhaps you could devise a ‘Blog Postings 101’ seminar for us to attend?

I think Kay was objecting to the culture among SEO companies to write negative blogs and to jump up and down on rivals at the first sniff of a problem. I’ve seen it happen with several firms now and, as in many walks of life, giving people to benefit of the doubt and not always assuming the worst isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

M.Bison

rs powerleveling - http://www.powerlevelingz.com

It just happens to be more noticeable when it happens to a high profile site and when there are people like you waiting in the wings ready to pounce and broadcast negative assumptions. Actually, it’s these types of posts that propogate the fear the smaller businesses have of SEO providers assume their own people did something bad to their site because some pages drop from the index. Queue lots of time wasting and undoing of costly work!

rs gold - http://www.4urpower.com

I am going to assume that this was a glitch rather than a penalty, but with their track record they need to be careful.

Kate

Bigmouth have obviously not learnt their lesson. Look at their current ‘competition’ for bloggers where the blogger needs to blog about Bigmouth to be entered bigmouthmedia.com/affiliate/babe/. Strangely you can win the Blogging Excellence Award by just Twittering about them. Looks like a cheap link buying exercise to me.

kay

@kate – cheap linking buying? Paying people for reviews and launching competitions to promote a brand happens everywhere these days. I think that competition is good marketing. Jeeeez I’m starting to sound like a BMMfangirl! Need to stop now.

@rspowerleveling…did you copy and paste a chunk of my comment because you agree or because you wanted to get a ‘cheap link’ from this thread?

peace and love! 🙂

John Scott Cothill

Poor chaps. BMM have had more fail whales than I’ve had hot dinners. Literally.

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